Hello again, fellow Americans, fellow treasures, and fellow tourists! We at the blog got quite absorbed in researching North Tonawanda yesterday, and decided to bring it a little closer to home. Today, we are going to discuss Oaks, Pennsylvania. An extremely important town, as far as we're concerned, since that is where the American Treasure Tour is located!

Named after canal designer Thomas Oakes, the village of Oaks developed around Brower's Locks on the Schuylkill Canal in 1825. The Perkiomen railroad moved into the area when trains replaced canal boats as the primary mode of transportation, and the Oaks station was constructed in 1868. Transportation remains an important part of the town, now regarded as a suburb of Philadelphia. The construction of Route 422 in 1985 increased traffic in the area, as housing developments continue to spring up, bringing people closer to the Egypt Road exit off of 422, and the site of the former B.F. Goodrich tire plant in which the American Treasure Tour is housed on the second floor of the massive structure.

QUESTION:

Who should be the next person to call 866-970-TOUR to book a group to experience the American Treasure Tour?

a) You

b) Your mom, dad, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and that second cousin you never see anymore, but with whom you share some really good memories.

c) President Obama

d) Your employer, so that the entire office can take an afternoon away from the office to see what's really important - mechanical music machines, classic cars, and lots of other fun stuff, too.

e) All of the above

ANSWER: I'm not going to make you sit in suspense. The answer is e). No mystery there. And yes, we fully realize that a visit by President Obama has to include his whole family and an entourage of Secret Service Agents. We're willing to make that sacrifice.

HISTORY TODAY:

December 6th, 1884, a project begun over thirty-six years before finally reached completion. On July 4th, 1848, the cornerstone was placed on the Mall in the nation's capitol dedicating the construction of the Washington Monument. Financial crises, the Civil War, and other reasons caused a twenty-three year freeze. For decades, all that stood was a partial obelisk, which may have symbolically represented a country struggling with its own identity. Now, when you look at the completed structure, you can see different colors in the facade of marble, granite, and gneiss. A visual distinction between the first era of building and the final era. Completed in 1884, it dominated the skyline for a city that represented a united country and recognized the importance of a man whose importance in its early development cannot be over-estimated.

BIRTHS:

Today is the birthday of Ira Gershwin, the lesser-known but equally important brother of George Gershwin. Incredible musical collaborators, the siblings wrote music together during the short life of George (who died at the age of 38), but who also went on to work with other luminaries, including Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen. Born in 1896, Ira lived to see 86 years.

QUOTE:

Old age adds to the respect due to virtue, but it takes nothing from the contempt inspired by vice; it whitens only the hair. - Ira Gershwin